And we're off...

After creating my first terrine and documenting the process, I have a newfound respect for professional chefs and food stylists. I also have a great deal more respect for the countless bloggers that I follow and marvel at their output, their professionalism and their passion for their subject.


It's hard enough to get a recipe right, but snapping ingredients, capturing terrines-in-progress and producing something edible and attractive is hard. You have to be a true multi-tasker.

We've been having hot, humid, rainy days and nights in Sydney where you never know what the weather will do in the next ten minutes. The first terrine I thought I would attempt was a spring vegetable terrine which can be served hot or cold. 

The main ingredients for this inaugural terrine were spring vegetables of course...beans, carrots, celery hearts, peas - whatever you can find to hand. It's all bound together with eggs and pure cream, so it's not for the faint-hearted.

Of course, the whole time I was cooking, I was very conscious of the process and felt that I was the star of my own cooking show (Terrines Tonight), much the same as when we were kids cooking up a storm in the kitchen, creating a show out of the scrambled eggs we were making. But glamour aside, I really wanted to get this first one right. Once all ingredients were whisked, I popped it into a cling-wrapped terrine and put in a baking dish filled with boiling water. Then it was into the oven for forty minutes.

Et voila! Spring vegetable terrine that only has a slight leaning problem. From the top it looked a lot better. 

The consistency and the refrigeration overnight held it together, and the next day it was wolfed down at a barbie where we ate it with sausages and salad. Thanks for journeying with me on this first terrine. Some of the art is going to get better, and possibly the commentary (NB, I am not reproducing the recipes due to copyright). As mentioned, the inspiration is Stephane Reynaud's Terrine.

All terrines great and small...and my inspiration, Stephane Reynaud

At the outset I should declare myself: I have a weakness for cookbooks, fuschia lipsticks, Waikiki sunsets and N'awlins beignets (even though I've yet to taste one - I just know I'll love them). I am a sometime writer, a lazy cook and someone who can be very shallow when it comes to judging books by covers. So when I saw this gorgeous tome in the bookshop (a real bricks and mortar bookshop, as opposed to my recent online outings), I had to have it. 

Mr Reynaud and I already have an on-again, off-again relationship. My copy of Ripailles is still in pretty good nick, which means I both baby it and don't use it often enough. The recipes are fantastic, but fancy. Terrines, I think I can master. What can go wrong with a small pot of rich goodness?


My commitment is thus: don't just look at the pretty book, use it! Cook up a storm! Create wonders in the kitchen! Become a master of...the...er...terrine! Yes, that's glamorous - be the terrine-meister you always wanted to be! Luckily, I love rich French food in all its forms; and have been the recipient of a terrine (the crockery; not the food). I have the book; I have the terrine; now all I need to do is follow Mr Reynaud's recipes and I shall have a terrine a week.


Before you can throw Julie and Julia at me, I'll be honest: I'm no great cook, I don't have a Brooklyn apartment, no charming yet semi-supportive husband waiting in the wings. Life is a lot less exciting than that. But by God I have a kitchen and a terrine: therefore I am. Join me, fellow terrine-lovers, Francophiles and friends as I embark on this rather ill-founded journey. A year's odyssey in which I commit to cooking and recording a gelatinous, sumptuous feast once a week...Enjoy the ride!